Laptop won't properly shut down, go to sleep or hibernate [A715-72G]

Koss
Koss Member Posts: 11

Tinkerer
in Aspire Laptops
Hi,
I'm not sure how long I've been having this issue, but I think it's been about 1.5-2 years. As the title says, the laptop has a problem with shutting down, going to sleep or hibernating. When I first noticed it, I thought the problem is with waking up from sleep because from my perspective when I wanted to use my laptop again after putting it in sleep mode, I saw only a black screen. Later I found out that wasn't the case and the real problem is that it won't even properly go to sleep in the first place. I'd say the problem occurs in 60-70% cases, so sometimes it actually works as it should.

I choose the shut down option in Windows, then there's a standard shut down animation, the screen goes black and now it either shuts down or it'll stay in that mid-state between being on and off. If it stays on, you can see the LED on the side, the keyboard backlight is still on and can be turned on or off with the keyboard shortcut and you can hear the fans spinning. In this state there's nothing I can do except holding the power button forcing the laptop to turn off. The same scenario is with sleep mode and hibernating.

I've spent many hours looking for a solution that would work for me. I've seen many threads about a similar issues on this forum and generally on the internet, but either the solutions didn't work for me or threads were abandoned. E.g. there was a thread about Acer laptops and I thought it might be what I was looking for, but then it turned out to be an issue related only to the 4th gen intel processors. I've tried turning off the hibernate mode, changing PCI Express link state power management options in power options, updating BIOS, doing a clean install of Windows 10 and 11 multiple times, I've checked RAM a few times with Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool and many more that now I can't recall.

After reading all of this it may seem to be a hardware related issue and I'd think that too, but there's one thing that makes me wonder if that's the case. I had all of those issues only on Windows. Now I'm on Windows exclusively, but for some time I was dual booting Linux. I was using Kubuntu, Pop!_OS and Arch and I can't recall a single instance when I had those problems on any of those distributions.

If anyone knows what can be the cause of the problem, I'd appreciate an answer.
Thanks for reading all of that
«1

Comments

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    >>>I've tried turning off the hibernate mode,>>>

    Hibernation is buggy and the likely culprit. How did you try to turn it off?

    Jack E/NJ

  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    I turned it off in terminal with 'powercfg.exe /hibernate off' command, but it didn't fix my problem. I have the same issues no matter if hibernation is on or off.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    What BIOS version number is installed?

    Jack E/NJ

  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    The BIOS version is 1.26. It's the newest one according to the Acer product support page (https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7627?b=1 ).
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    About when did you acquire this laptop?

    Jack E/NJ

  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    It was in August 2018.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Did you press F9 to load v1.26 defaults after the BIOS update, then press F10 to save default settings and exit to see if it changes anything on the next boot?

    Jack E/NJ

  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    Not immediately after the update, but yes, I tried to load defaults a few times to see if it does anything. Unfortunately, it didn't help.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Have you tried disabling all options in the BIOS Main tab except F12 boot and D2D options?

    Jack E/NJ

  • Commodore_1995#
    Commodore_1995# ACE Posts: 98,311 Trailblazer
    Does the problem occur when you try to shut down the computer through the bios?

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
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  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    JackE said:
    Have you tried disabling all options in the BIOS Main tab except F12 boot and D2D options?


    I've just tried it and it didn't help. I even got this recovery screen after having to force the laptop to shut down. I had those recovery messages a few times previously and every time after pressing enter it boots up properly.
  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    egydiocoelho said:
    Does the problem occur when you try to shut down the computer through the bios?

    No, shutting down through BIOS has always worked properly.
  • Commodore_1995#
    Commodore_1995# ACE Posts: 98,311 Trailblazer
    If it was a hardware problem, then the problem should also occur when shutting down via the bios. When you turn off your computer through windows, are there any external usb devices or hdmi monitors connected, which could be interfering with the shutdown?

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    >>>I've just tried it and it didn't help. >>>

    Yes but did you also try it from a cold boot with fast startup also disabled in Control Panel's power button app?

    Jack E/NJ

  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    egydiocoelho said:
    If it was a hardware problem, then the problem should also occur when shutting down via the bios. When you turn off your computer through windows, are there any external usb devices or hdmi monitors connected, which could be interfering with the shutdown?

    No USB devices, but I use an external monitor, although the problem occurs no matter if it's plugged in or not, so it doesn't seem to be relevant.
  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    JackE said:
    >>>I've just tried it and it didn't help. >>>

    Yes but did you also try it from a cold boot with fast startup also disabled in Control Panel's power button app?
    I'm not sure what do you mean by a cold boot. I disabled all BIOS settings in the main tab except F12 boot and D2D, then saved changes, booted to windows, and tried to put the laptop in sleep mode but the issue persists. And yes, I have fast startup disabled in the control panel.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Cold boot means to shut down (not restart) Windows normally with both fast boot and fast startup disabled. Wait a minute or so. Then press the power button to turn it back on and boot up again.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    Unfortunately, it did not help. The issue is still there.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    >>> I think it's been about 1.5-2 years>>>>>>I was using Kubuntu, Pop!_OS and Arch and I can't recall a single instance when I had those problems on any of those distributions.>>>

    Unfortunately, as you know this happened way too long ago for an automatic update restore point to be kept by Windows, even if SystemProtection was enabled at the time. Accordingly, the best way to rule in or rule out a hardware-related issue, is to back up the drive and try to do a full erase everything factory reset & enable SystemProtection. If the problem persists, then it's either due to a hardware issue or less likely the firmware update.

    However, in my opinion, a factory reset like this is too drastic to try to fix something that does not, a priori, seem to be a momentous issue. For me, this is more in the realm of an annoyance.

    So if it was my A715, I'd continue to live with it as you have for the last 18+ months. However, I'd probably use disk manager to make unallocated space to make room for dual booting to see if the issue goes away with a more stable & polished system like Cinnamon 20.3. Or since huge capacity drives are so cheap nowadays, I might swap out the old drive and fresh install Windows or Mint on the new drive to see what happens. With Mint, you might even decide to use it exclusively instead like I have. :)

    Jack E/NJ

  • Koss
    Koss Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer
    I've tried so many things to fix it over the last months, that I think the source of the problem will stay a mystery forever. Either way, thanks for the help!

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